Back on July 20, 2012, James Holmes took it upon himself to murder 12 cinema goers at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Colorado.

Film director Tim Sutton (Memphis) has taken what happened on that fateful day and dramatised the events leading up to a copycat mass shooting-of-sorts in a Florida cinema.

Rather than exploit any tragedy for entertainment purposes, Sutton’s camera focuses on those people soon to be caught up in the atrocity and their normal - some might say mundane - lives before things were changed forever.

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His approach sees the camera often filming the people affected at a distance giving an almost detached, isolated feel to what we’re watching. It flirts with becoming almost voyeuristic as we see a vlogger film and post her fitness regime online. She is heard thanking her viewers for their attention but away from her phone camera, she lives a lonely existence.

The film follows the lives of the victims

There’s also a military vet who spends time at the gun range away from a family who can’t stand his silence and inaction. And there’s the skateboarding teens who coast along pavements and around parking lots, rarely interacting.

At the centre of Sutton’s latest film is solitude. Many of our onscreen stars find themselves inhabiting the camera alone for long stretches.

It’s this filming style that draws in the audience, like we’re being given a glimpse behind the curtain to these normal everyday people who are completely unaware what lies ahead for them. And the fact we know where it’s all heading creates a real sense of dread.

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While some may be after more action and bloodshed given what inspired Sutton’s film, this isn’t what Dark Night is providing. There’s no glamourising of violence. No fetishism of murder. It’s all just a window into worlds shattered mere hours later by Holmes.

Garry gave Dark Night three stars

This isn’t a film for everyone. It’s incredibly dry. Almost mundane, at times. But so are the lives of those on camera. But these normal people find themselves in almost dreamlike surroundings thanks to Helene Louvart’s beautiful cinematography.

There’s also a whodunnit feel about proceedings. With the inevitable massacre on the horizon, just who will be the one responsible? As we reach the crescendo, it climaxes with a final scene that is chilling in its execution.